As prices continue to rise for premium laptops and fall for budget options, it’s often difficult to find a solid mid-range laptop that has good performance vs price. However, looking at $800 as a budget, there are some high-quality laptops on the market that detail specs rivaling selections in the $1000 price range.
Portability
It’s clear why having stellar portability is essential in a laptop as unlike your desktop PCs, you’re going to need a lightweight and slimline machine that you can carry around. You also need to find the right balance between screen size and performance vs portability as the former usually puts a strain on the portability of any laptops. Nowadays, screen size is certainly less of an issue to do the edge to edge nature of newer models, but a 13-inch screen compared to a 17-inch screen is still a big jump, so don’t disregard it. Internal components affecting performance have also improved, getting smaller as the years go by, but those looking for good gaming performance will make the laptop more chunky as graphics cards and the cooling required are a little behind the curve. Always something to think about when asking yourself how portable is this laptop going to be.
Performance
As with all tech, you’re going to want the best bang for your buck when looking at the performance of laptops under $800. As previously mentioned in the portability aspect, internal components are becoming more and more advanced as the years go by in addition to actually getting smaller in the process. This has meant that the laptops of today can even compete with some of their desktop counterparts, making laptops the go-to option for business people as well as those who work from home. With $800, you can secure yourself some top tier internal components that give you a great computing experience. However, there are a number of variations in CPU, RAM, graphics cards, and more, making it tricky to select the right choice. As a general rule and as seen with our selections above, you’re usually looking at an i5 CPU, 8GB RAM, and the graphical power you’d expect at this price point so if none of the above peak your interest try to stick to this ballpark.
Display
The displays on laptops vary so much, not just in size but in resolution too, making your job much harder. Usually, you’re looking at three main screen sizes; 13 inches, 15 inches, and 17 inches so pretty simple there, just choose whichever you’d feel most comfortable with. Most go for the middle 15-inch option as this provides easy viewing while not compromising on portability too much. The resolution, on the other hand, is a bit of a minefield, but to put it simply, when spending $800, you’re likely to be in the full HD (1920×1080) bracket. Anything better than that then great but never go below full HD, you’ll regret it. Additionally, with companies like Huawei and Microsoft pushing the 3:2 aspect ratio over the more traditional 16:9, that’s something to think about too as you’ll receive more screen real estate but at an abnormal aspect ratio that could take some getting used to.
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